>Impressive German ingenuity...
>
>The VDO (Kenzle) clock.  I took this puppy apart last night.  Some sand 
grains
>were found in the casing.  I got it to werk almost for about 50% of its
>"stroke".  THis is where the ingenuity comes in.  It appears to me the
>clock operates via a contact (point) system similar (visually) to the
>points in the distributor).  As the clock ticks along the gap between these
>"points" lessens until current is transmitted across the gab to reset a 
lever
> (for lack of a better word) against a tension spring. The lever and spring
>unit becomes engaged into a gear which provides the potential energy for 
the
>intricacies of this clock... And the gap closes..

So it's a spring-powered wind-up clock, that periodically rewinds itself
with 12VDC (or 6VDC) power?  Kewl...